Plunderer

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Plunderer is a hard manga to review, but as most of the reviews are outdated, i figured i would give it a shot.

The story starts off decently enough, but does not really start spinning its gears untill a volume or two in. Once it does though, you are in for one hell of a wild ride.

As aforementioned, it is extremely hard to review because damn near everything good about it counts under the category of a plot twist. I have never read a story with as many fucking plot twists jammed into it as this one, you cannot go two chapters without the ... status quo getting ballista bombed into the sun. It is virtually impossible to predict what will happen next as the story continues to unfold in the most unexpected and exciting ways.

That being said, its such a rushdown of story that the pacing is a tad off, i would even go as far as to say it is too quick, and the "lets take a breather" comic relief chapters suffer from even worse whiplash then usual despite it being a norm for manga. Luckily, the characters are so strong and the plot is well tied in with the charactes themselves, that it is never too much.

As far as the art goes, there is not much to say about it. It is a very clean and very expressive style that is perfect for action, it looks perfect, although somewhat generic.

In short, this is a fun action story that will subvert your expectations roughly every other chapter.

I was always confused why this series was so disliked. The start might've not have been amazing, but still had a sense of adventure with its "counts". Then, after a while of reading chapter 72, I realized. This basically became Dragon Ball Z-level of stupidity with power levels.

I'll start with what I liked; the story, the characters, and "counts".
The story was enjoyable, along with the character interactions and how distinct they are. Yes, there are tropes that I disliked like the typical "girl that screams for help and gets sidelined".
But disregarding that point, the characters do put up some fights. Even if they get weaker ... and at times suffer the Goku effect (basically wait for the strongest to arrive), there are a few that do put up a good fight. There is one specifically that basically says "screw counts" and actually becomes a good fighter without.

Now, let's talk about "counts". In their world, it's basically what determines your worth and power. By doing a specific task for you, you'll get a number increase. The higher the number, the more powerful you'll be. Of course, there are other ways, but they don't really delve that deep into how the "counts" work, only surface-level. The count levels also get absurdly stupid, as if you the reader are supposed to just accept it, it's basically Dragonball-level.
The count system is basically thrown off as well, as its only purpose now is to show how strong you are and nothing more.

It was definitely a fun thing to watch. But along with the story, it just got dumbed down, especially how lazy it gets. Which I'll get into now, the twists.

Having a twist to a story is basically to subvert the expectations of the reader. This manga does certainly do it at times, especially in the middle of the story. But as time goes on, you get used to it, and you see how stupid it all was. You'll see the most basic twists, and so, so many ones, later on, that just happens with barebones explanations.

There's also a horrible twist later on, that basically solidifies my points. Overall, even with all my criticisms, I still enjoyed it. It's still different than some mangas but has nothing it excels at.
If you want a fun read, this is it. It's not boring by any means, but don't expect any logical sense in here. Also, there's a lot of ecchi and fan service, so you might enjoy that.

This is a preliminary review for final chapter (based on what I'm speculating based on the manga's pacing so far) should be number 77.

Warning: Will have a bit of minor spoilers and a very long review for you know why if you know me...

Actual rating by me

Vol 1 - 11 = 8
Vol 12 onwards = 4

As much as I'm frustrated & disappointed with the anime adaptation, I'm shocked that the manga's version of the first 10 volumes exceeded my reading experience, if not, it has "good animation quality".
...
Though there are questionable & offensive scenes, especially regarding to how the female characters are being badly-written & ruined by the gender stereotyping regarding quick-thinking inabilities, the intense foreshadowing weren't interrupted by the misused fanservice that plot twist happening in volume 3 is well-executed. Not to mention, the manga author has drawn the action scenes with the right amount of blood & gore & the fights' light flashing & punching has been detailed in stunning artwork.

What's more important is that there are necessary & important info/details regarding about the Legendary Aces' origins & the reason their appearance look like that. Thus, there wasn't any confusion like what the anime adaptation did. I'm also shocked that the manga author showed the plot twist reveal in this version has amplified the emotional impact to anyone reading it, especially the part where the country Alcia's origins' way of being revealed hits a million points in how to apply shock value in storytelling the most appealing way.

Though the reason why I said the number of volumes here is because I'm encouraging you to purchase them because if you can get through those questionable scenes of the female characters, then it's worth your time & savings to have the 1st 10 volumes in your own hands literally or digitally.

Now, here comes the bad news on why I rate this series as it is...

Volume 11 sees a plot twist that's predictable, but still expected in a good way that I admit I liked how the main heroine gets to do something on her own. And that's the problem...you see the characters are like plot devices (with the exception of a glasses lieutenant who surprisingly has consistent character development), nothing more, nothing less.

Because there are so many plot twist reveals happening at a fast pace, almost all of the characters are underdeveloped or worse, badly-written for I get we've backstory on some of them, but the way they're written is inconsistent especially given most of the time, the manga author seems to depend on tired & overused stereotypes (especially regarding the "Gropers are Heroes" trope) existing in Japan's otaku subculture at most times.

For the first time in my life, the main hero is one of my least fave characters along with any of the female characters I'm reading about. Not to mention, there are new characters appearing suddenly that I can't seem to care any of these characters, especially when one seemingly killed his comrades, but turned out they're alive when they became a Deux es Machina for him.

Speaking of said new characters, this includes newly-made villains that just appeared to be the problematic typical & predictable villain who just love to torture people for no reason, but for the sake of embracing their sadistic side without remorse. This can be jarring & grating that they'll make you wished they just "disappear" in the next panel already.

Not to mention, the "good guys forgive bad guys despite being stabbed/tortured by said bad guys" trope is getting repetitive throughout most of the series' storyline that I got bored and predicted well enough because this is a shounen manga. The manga author/editors don't wanna let young boys reading this manga that betrayal exists. Yes, betrayal is meant for "all-evil characters" and if good guy uses it, it's because they did it for a cover-up or their backstory is "tragic" that they deserve to betray their loyal comrades. *cue me rolling eyes at Alcian Army's blonde leader*

In brief, this series is indirectly telling you that there's no such thing as betrayal by the hero's side. Only very evil characters betray, not the other way around...

There was a group of them who are like that; given the latest chapter showing them looking unenthusiastic about fighting the heroes' side...I mean why??? Why did you hesitate to fight when you've hurt/tortured one of their comrades in previous chapters?

It's like there's inconsistent personalities within these said villains. I know "off-screen" is possible explanation for that, but this is a reading material. Not all readers are gonna accept that said villains turning into good guys all of a sudden or worse, they get the "wake-up punch" or get all sorts of abuse they get from the actual Big Bad.

Not to mention, there's a sudden romantic development between one of them and one of the heroes' family that it's quite drastic, making the romance aspect feel forced/unnecessary. I mean, did the author's fans ever ask for another romantic couple? If it has proper romantic development, then I can accept those two in latest chapter.

Another thing I'm disappointed with the series is because this is obviously promoting itself as a problematic shounen battle series because all of the emotional drama happening in vol12 is made because of the heroes' side becoming oblivious beings. When I mean that, they're TOO TRUSTWORTHY to listen to anyone that that said people might be lying/deceiving to the heroes. I mean the fact some of the heroes are 300+ years old & after all the dangers/betrayal they've experienced in the earlier arcs, they trust anyone without thinking ahead or doubting there's a possibility of the enemy disguising themselves literally & directly.

This makes the heroes to fall under the "too dumb to live" problematic trope. Because making the heroes become incompetent and not-so-perceptive beings is grating until their appropriate character development made from the earlier arcs has been thrown out of the window completely. Not to mention that the "power of love/friendship" trope is too cringy, being the most hypocritically best solution to defeats science of the most powerful-made drug that it prolonged emotional or dramatic scenes that it's kind of predictably anti-climatic/unsatisfying closure.

In brief, Plunderer is one of the most shocking series to exist that's questionable & nonsensical yet it's a series where it somehow fits every single genre/subgenre you can think of now.

The artwork is the only thing that's salvaging its trainwrecked storytelling post-vol 11. Vol 12 onwards has become parallel with the anime's scriptwriting; that's for sure...

I only recommend this manga series for those who appreciate stunning artwork (yes, it's consistent & being used to the max post-vol 11) and could careless/ignore the problematic tropes existing in most of the shounen battle series.

If you're into any romance & emotional stuff regardless of how inconsistent development happens in those aspects, so be it.

Though for any newbie fans, I'm glad to encourage you to purchase the licensed FIRST 10 VOLUMES of this series for the anime adaptation didn't do justice for the earlier arcs. From vol 11 and so forth, that's up to you entirely. May you not regret purchasing them.